


Coffee

by keepfabandgayon



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-08-15
Packaged: 2017-12-23 14:30:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepfabandgayon/pseuds/keepfabandgayon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the first few weeks of sharing a lab, we were... Not civil, not at all, but we could at least compromise. We -- meaning Hermann -- marked a line down the centre of the lab, and we -- meaning I -- kept all the Kaiju entrails on one side. We didn't shout at each other. To be honest, we barely even talked. <br/>Then I got Kaiju blood on the coffee machine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> for jaegercon 2013 bingo

We probably did hate each other at some point. In fact, I'm sure we did. And I can tell you how it started, too. 

For the first few weeks of sharing a lab, we were... Not civil, not at all, but we could at least compromise. We -- meaning Hermann -- marked a line down the centre of the lab, and we -- meaning I -- kept all the Kaiju entrails on one side. We didn't shout at each other. To be honest, we barely even talked. 

Then I got Kaiju blood on the coffee machine. 

In my defence, it was three in the morning, and I started cleaning it up once I noticed, and maybe I shouldn't have been in the lab that late, early, whatever, but Hermann was there too. 

He flew off the handle. "How _dare_ you taint our coffee! I need to drink that, you know. Maybe _you're_ used to the toxicity of Kaiju blood but I don't particularly want to be poisoned! I don't care if it's been neutralised, it still should not be ingested. No, don't bother cleaning it, put it in the decontaminator. And why don't you join it in there, you're a mess."

Maybe I paraphrased a little. 

After that little incident, I started provoking him. There really isn't a better word. I wanted to make him angry. And not in the "you're cute when you're angry" way. That came later. 

No, I wanted him to be pissed off because I hated him. I hated how stuffy he was. I hated how he tried to stifle me. I hated the way he dressed like he was fifty years older than he really was, like he thought it would make people respect him more. I hated how he drank his coffee black -- who actually does that? Everyone says they do but we all drink it one-third milk and one-third whatever sweetener we can get our hands on. 

Most of all, I hated the way he needed order -- and not in an OCD way, I could understand that; he just needed everything in order so that he could be sure no-one was having fun. Order for the sake of professionalism. As if I shouldn't be doing something I enjoy. 

It disgusted me just as much as my "Kaiju entrails" disgusted him. 

So I provoked him. I made sure my newest experiments were all right up by the line, and maybe dropped an entrail or two over it every once in a while. I also made sure my oldest experiments were right up by the line, just for the smell. I "lost" my headphones and started playing music at top volume while I worked. I set my lab coat on fire (on purpose) as well as his lab coat (mostly by accident) and his raincoat (definitely an accident, and I left a huge parka on his desk the next morning; we didn't talk about it, I never said it was from me, but he must've taken it as an apology). 

Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. 

I wish I could say it wasn't some overused movie trope. At the time, I thought Hermann just added my frequent shirtlessness during the summer, when the whole Shatterdome felt like the black leather interior of a car after a day at the beach, was just another entry on the list of things that made me a disgrace to humanity. It certainly seemed that way, especially that time he dumped cold coffee on me and told me to put a shirt on before Marshall Pentecost saw me. (He showed up five minutes later to the two of us shouting at each other in German and me throwing Kaiju bits at Hermann. I still wasn't wearing a shirt.)

After Drifting with him, though, I saw all the times he'd stare at me, trying his hardest not to start lusting -- "I do not _lust_ " -- and failing really spectacularly. Which is kinda funny, 'cause that's about when I started thinking his anger was cute. I'm sure I'll hear his protests soon. 

And after that first summer, well, the war between us wasn't over, but rather than quiet tension between battles, when we weren't fighting we started to actually get along. We'd sneak into the mess hall together in the early hours of the morning before the sun was up and we'd steal more coffee for the coffee-maker that I wasn't allowed to touch any more; Hermann poured all my coffee for me anyway, and I thanked him for it by cleaning his chalkboard whenever he was done with whatever was on it. 

I still kept my new specimens as close to the line as possible, but I pushed the older ones to the back and only blasted music when I couldn't concentrate. 

Maybe we still hate each other, a little. But probably not. At this point, we fight 'cause we're used to it. And there's a little bit of love there, too. 

He hasn't said it yet. Neither have I. I'm not sure we need to.

**Author's Note:**

> this will probably have a companion piece from hermann's POV.


End file.
